We start recovery of the DC3 right away, with work lights on the beach as well as the lights of the PBY to illuminate things. Once she's up on the beach and on her wheels the next morning, we take a rest and look her over.
It's not too bad; fortunately I had her slowed-up well on touchdown; props were stopped and feathered; no apparent structural damage, and although the gear came up late, it didn't strike bottom. The plane had come to rest in shallow water; with the PBY, we were able to tow her in right away to a depth where she rested on the bottom without taking on more water.
But there's a lot to be done to get her airworthy again: cleaning, drying, replacing some electrical components, and a pretty thorough teardown on airframe and engines to look for damage. And of course, all the water had to come out of the engines...
Then there's the inspections and paperwork...
It takes about a month. We're fortunate to have a little room here at Babullah to work, and the airport owner happily accepts a pile of money to accomodate and assist us. A little grease on the palms of the local air authorities helps, too...
It's a long wait, but not too long a turnaround, considering. What a team I've got... I make a note to give them fat bonuses, then, after a few test flights, it's time to prepare for the next hop: a mere 1390-mile flight to Kijang Airport in Singapore, using the VORs near Donggala and Pontianak as checkpoints to bring my course across the equator enroute.
For good measure, we load her up with 1200 gallons of fuel... the weather forecast is sketchy, and I might get lost in poor vis. if I can't maintain communications with ATC. Possible storms forecast for later west of here...
Off I go; at dawn again, knowing for sure that even if it takes the estimated 12 hours, it'll be light at WIKN when I arrive.
Daylight reveals some pretty high terrain near the airport as EQDC3 climbs out over the Molucca Sea...
About 2 hrs later, things are looking good as I cruise into the Gulf of Timini. I'm on a VFR plan, and I hope my ded. reckoning is good... should see some islands to my left soon...
Yup; there's the Turtle Islands... I'm picking up the Donggala VOR now; looks like I'm a little south of course.
Clouds are gathering as I cross the western stretch of the gulf, headed for Donggala.
So strange to be flying over land; here we see the harbor north of Donggala as I cross the isthmus to the Makassar Straits, beyond which lies Borneo.
Four hours from departure, still flying by ded. reckoning and pilotage, I find myself perfectly on course- that's the river delta near Samarinda, Borneo. I'm making excellent time, and EQDC3 is flying perfectly. Engines sound great.
The lush island of Borneo looms, terrain slowly sloping upward. As I track south of the river on my way across the island, I see more clouds ahead. In a short while I'll climb to 9,500 just to make sure I'm clear of the Muller Mountains ahead...
Next: Stormy Borneo!
